In memory of Erwin James: Reflections from a Lifer

02/01/24 • 55 min

Last week we very sadly lost Erwin James, who was a champion of prison reform through his journalism - a career he started while still serving a life sentence in prison.

In 2021, we were honoured to welcome Erwin as a guest on the Forensic Psychology Podcast, and we wanted to repost that interview to remind ourselves of his thoughts on the role forensic psychologists played in his time in prison.

Erwin James was a Guardian columnist and contributor - a career he started in 1998 while still serving in prison. He then became Editor in Chief of Inside Time, the national newspaper for people in prison. He became a writer in prison where he served 20 years of a mandatory life sentence. He was a Commissioner on the panel of the Westminster Commission on Miscarriages of Justice. Erwin was the author of three books: A Life Inside: A Prisoners Notebook, The Home Stretch: From Prison to Parole, and Redeemable: a Memoir of Darkness and Hope.

Previous Episode

Inside the long-term high secure estate | Jane Read and Debbie Marsh

Jane Read has over 25 years experience of working within the High Security prison estate. In that time she has worked in the Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder Programme (DSPD) and was closely involved in the development of the assessment & treatment models for this programme. For 15 years Jane was the director of psychological services at HMP Wakefield and since January 2018 she has been the clinical Framework Progression Lead for the Directorate of Security. In 2023 Jane was awarded an OBE for services to prison and the community.

Debbie Marsh is has worked as a psychologist in HM Prison and Probation Service for 25 years and is currently a regional lead psychologist in HMPPS. Debbie has experience working with a range of client groups. Her current specialism is in counter-terrorism. Within her role, Debbie provides organisational and professional leadership of psychology services across the service and including policy development and integration into wider agenda. Other key areas of work include risk assessment, interventions, crisis negotiations and working in discrete units.

Key references:

Madness Explained: Psychosis and Human Nature, 2004 Richard P. Bentall (Author), Aaron T. Beck (Foreword)

Power Threat Meaning Framework - Overview version | BPS

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Next Episode

Remembering Dr. Ruth Mann

Fiona Williams is a Psychologist with over 30 years of experience in HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). She is the Head of Interventions Services, a team of specialist staff who are responsible for the design of accredited programmes. Her remit also includes responsibility for accredited programmes staff training and the quality assurance of all programme delivery across over 200 prison and probation delivery sites.

Rosie Travers leads the evidence based practice team in HMPPS. This is a small team of staff dedicated to bringing the best available evidence into our everyday practice in prison and probation, scanning the latest academic research and translating that into practice-relevant headlines for busy colleagues, and helping evaluate what difference that makes. Rosie is a forensic psychologist and worked for many years developing and evaluating offending behaviour programmes before moving a few years ago into an evidence team with a wider remit.

Alan Scott joined the Prison Service as an Assistant Governor in 1983 from university and was posted to HMYCC Wellingborough. He then moved to HMP Gartree before being posted to HMP Haverigg and then HMP Preston as Deputy Governor, where he was then promoted to Governor of HMP Preston. After running HMP Wymott, he became Area Manager South West then returned to the North West as Area Manager. He acted as Director of Prisons for 6 months prior to becoming Director of Public Sector Prison North. He was appointed AED for the NW and Women’s Estate in October 2023. Areas of responsibility held include Young Adult Lead for HMPPS until recently and Chair Of Rehabilitative Culture Programme Board.

Shadd Maruna is Professor of Criminology at Queen’s University Belfast and the Past President of the American Society of Criminology. He is the author of the books Making Good and Rehabilitation: Beyond the Risk Paradigm with Tony Ward.

Key references:

Mann, R. E., Hanson, R. K., & Thornton, D. (2010). Assessing risk for sexual recidivism: Some proposals on the nature of psychologically meaningful risk factors. Sexual Abuse, 22(2), 191-217.

Mann, R. E., Fitzalan-Howard, F., & Tew, J. (2018). What is a rehabilitative prison culture? Prison Service Journal, 235, 3–9.

Travers, R., Williams, F., & Willis, G. M. (2020). Recognising a trailblazer; celebrating a colleague; thanking a friend. Journal of Sexual Aggression, 26(2), 145-150.

Maruna, S., & Mann, R. E. (2006). A fundamental attribution error? Rethinking cognitive distortions. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 11(2), 155-177.

De Vries Robbé, M., Mann, R. E., Maruna, S., & Thornton, D. (2015). An exploration of protective factors supporting desistance from sexual offending. Sexual Abuse, 27(1), 16-33.

Dean, C., Mann, R. E., Milner, R., & Maruna, S. (2007). Changing child sexual abusers' cognition. Aggressive Offenders' Cognition: Theory, Research, and Practice, 117-134.

Maruna, S., & Mann, R. (2019). Reconciling ‘desistance’and ‘what works’. Academic Insights, 1, 3-10.

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